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But the Wicked Shall Perish
But the Wicked Shall Perish follows Tziporah Curiel, a young Jewish woman, as she is brought back to life in 1920s Venice, Italy, and as she struggles to come to terms with her existence and to enact justice on her murderer. The novel incorporates Jewish mythology and beliefs into the first-person narrative through Tziporah Curiel's perspective as she searches for the reason why she died and to bring the person responsible to justice. However, to continue her reborn life, she must absorb living souls, or she will cease to exist. Her decision to strive for justice leads her to accepting a perilous offer from the demon Azazel. With his help, Tziporah follows a path through the fraught political and societal landscape of 1920s Italy and Austria that leads to her discovering the meaning behind her death and justice for her murderer.
344 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2025
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2025
I received this as an ARC through LibraryThing from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I was really excited to win this and kick spooky-season off with it. This story follows a young Jewess from Venice, sometime in the late 1700's to early 1800's, who has died and come back to seek vengeance on her killer. This is her mitzvah. The only way she can survive long enough to fulfill her mitzvah is to kill, or at the very least drain blood and rub it directly on her skin, particularly her face. She can also use the candle she returned with to purify the blood to ash and subsequently rub it directly onto her skin. Both the blood and the ash can be stored, for emergencies when she is otherwise unable to supply herself. There is a ritual that is alluded to for this process, although never fully explained. Most of the time, she gets the necessary blood from street animals and fish, but she does, occasionally take a human life when she feels they deserve it for one reason or another. She pairs up with a daemon who helps her see people's sins and determine when she will the person deserves to die.
I do wish the author or editor had included a glossary of terms at the end of the novel. She utilizes a number of terms that are either Hebrew or Yiddish and, while she would usually briefly define then when she first uses them, after that you just had to remember. It would have been nice to have something to review. On that note, she would, on occasion, not define the word and you were left grabbing at context clues to figure it out. Usually, it didn't matter, but sometimes, it's just nice to know. I feel as though this is especially true since the author clearly put so much research into the Jewish folklore, she should pass that information on to the reader.
Now, on to the less nit-picky portion. The main reason I could only give this 3 stars instead of the 4 it is more deserving of are inconsistencies in the story. The author has the main character struggling with all the killing she's done and, up to that point, we only really have one or two kills. There are other points in the story that allude to something similar, but it's also right after the author references her character killing a street animal or buying/stealing some fish for the ritual. It almost feels as though there were far more lives, initially, that were subject to this fate, only for them to end up on the cutting room floor and poorly patched over.
I also find the end rather disappointing as it feels rushed. The actual killer ends up being someone who is not really a part of the past that is revealed to the reader and therefore comes out of left field. Rather than being a good twist, it just feels like a cop out to make the story a little longer and intentionally throw the reader for no real reason. The very end feels like a cop out as well, especially since it isn't the most clear whether she actually fulfills her mitzvah or dies again in the process without completing it.
All in all a good story with a very different concept, but the execution is average at best with questionable editing choices that make for inconsistencies and affect the overall feel of the story. Definitely an original concept, but could have done with a better editor to help iron out some of the kinks.
I was really excited to win this and kick spooky-season off with it. This story follows a young Jewess from Venice, sometime in the late 1700's to early 1800's, who has died and come back to seek vengeance on her killer. This is her mitzvah. The only way she can survive long enough to fulfill her mitzvah is to kill, or at the very least drain blood and rub it directly on her skin, particularly her face. She can also use the candle she returned with to purify the blood to ash and subsequently rub it directly onto her skin. Both the blood and the ash can be stored, for emergencies when she is otherwise unable to supply herself. There is a ritual that is alluded to for this process, although never fully explained. Most of the time, she gets the necessary blood from street animals and fish, but she does, occasionally take a human life when she feels they deserve it for one reason or another. She pairs up with a daemon who helps her see people's sins and determine when she will the person deserves to die.
I do wish the author or editor had included a glossary of terms at the end of the novel. She utilizes a number of terms that are either Hebrew or Yiddish and, while she would usually briefly define then when she first uses them, after that you just had to remember. It would have been nice to have something to review. On that note, she would, on occasion, not define the word and you were left grabbing at context clues to figure it out. Usually, it didn't matter, but sometimes, it's just nice to know. I feel as though this is especially true since the author clearly put so much research into the Jewish folklore, she should pass that information on to the reader.
Now, on to the less nit-picky portion. The main reason I could only give this 3 stars instead of the 4 it is more deserving of are inconsistencies in the story. The author has the main character struggling with all the killing she's done and, up to that point, we only really have one or two kills. There are other points in the story that allude to something similar, but it's also right after the author references her character killing a street animal or buying/stealing some fish for the ritual. It almost feels as though there were far more lives, initially, that were subject to this fate, only for them to end up on the cutting room floor and poorly patched over.
I also find the end rather disappointing as it feels rushed. The actual killer ends up being someone who is not really a part of the past that is revealed to the reader and therefore comes out of left field. Rather than being a good twist, it just feels like a cop out to make the story a little longer and intentionally throw the reader for no real reason. The very end feels like a cop out as well, especially since it isn't the most clear whether she actually fulfills her mitzvah or dies again in the process without completing it.
All in all a good story with a very different concept, but the execution is average at best with questionable editing choices that make for inconsistencies and affect the overall feel of the story. Definitely an original concept, but could have done with a better editor to help iron out some of the kinks.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews